Wedge splitting and scarfing machine



L. G. FREEMAN.. WEDGE SPLITTING AND SYCA'RFING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27| i917.

L. G. FREEMAN.

WEDGE SPLITTING AND SCARFING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27. I9I7.

Patented Nov. 28, 1922.

IASS.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l.. G. FREEMAN.

WEDGE sPLmING AND scARFING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DE02?. 1917. 194.536,950 Patented Nov. 28, 1922..

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented Nov.. 28, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS G. FREEMAN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO LOUIS G. FREEMAN AND CHARLES F. FREEMAN, BOTH OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, TRUSTEES.

WEDGE SPLITTING AND SCARFING MACHINE.

Application le. December 27, 1917. Serial No. 209,132.

To all Lo/1.0m t may cof/mera.'

Be it known that LVLoUis G. F Riinivirin', a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented an lmprovement in Wedge Splitting and Scarfing Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like part-s.

My present invention is an improved splitting and scariing machine adapted to split sheet material, belts, straps, or the like, and also to cut a wedge from sole blanks, and the objects of the invention is to improve and perfect machines of this type.

The machine is of particular value for use in splitting a wedge portion from leather. leatherboard or like sheet material, particularly when formed as sole blanks used in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Such wedge splitting is desirable where a slightly increased length of sole blank at the heel is requisite, the wedge being split from the heel end, and. then reattached, giv ing an increase in length to iit a considerable range of increased sizes. As the full thickness of the sole at the heel is not so important, this practice of lengthening a sole blank by splitting a wedge and i'eattaching same has become of great utility in shoe manufacture, conserving leather, enabling a short sole blank to be used in place of a long blank, and thus greatly economizing the leather cost. On such machines it is necessary to provide automatic mechanism which will readily, instantly, and accurately be self-adjusting to operate upon material of different thicknesses, and important features of the present machine consist in the novel arrangements of parts for effecting this automatic adjustment with great accuracy and in a simple, efficient and economical inanner. It will be readily appreciated that in boot and shoe manufacture particularly, the sole blanks continually vary in thickness, and as it is desirable to have the wedge cut therefrom with the split or inclined surface of substantially equal length, irrespective of the thickness, provision must be made for a constant variation of the inclination of the splitting knife, as well as of the variation between the distance separating the feeding rolls.

The automatic adjustment of the feeding rolls is readily accomplished by mounting the saine insliding journal boXes any suitable manner, but the adjustment of the knife to vary the inclination of the knife co-eXtensively with the separation of the feeding rolls, is a main feature of the present invention.

Means are provided to connect the knife stock operated on.

Such connecting means e provided. with suitable adjusting devices, and are also provided with mechanism automatically compensate for variations the said connections due to the increasing or decreasing inclination required of the splitting knife.

Further advantages. details of construction and novel combinations of parts will be hereinafter more fully pointed out and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, illustrating a machine embodying a preferred form of the invention,

Fig. l is a front view of the machine, Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of a sole blank having a wedge split or cut from one end thereof,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the lever extending from the movable feeding roll to the knife holder:

Fig. i is a plan view of the knife holder and splitting knife Fig. is an enlarged view of the feeding rollsiand'splitting knife in inclined position therebetween.;

Fig. 6 is a side view of the lever shown i0'. 3' Fig?. 7 is a perspective of the sole Wedge prises a simple type of bench machine having a base 1, vertical standard, 2, and suitable journal bearingswnot shown, at the back of the machine-for the fast and loose pulleys as designated at 3. Feeding rolls 4 and 5 are connected by suitable gears (not shown), with the shaft carrying the pulley `keyed to a shaft thereon, as is customary, one of said feed rolls, in the present instance the lower roll 5, being mounted in a pivotedk journal box so as to permit a relative movement of the roll 5 toward and from the upper fixed roll 4. This construction is typical and well known, and therefore is not herein illustrated being for example similar to the showing in U. S. Patent, No. 920,456, issued May 4, 1909. A work table 6 is secured to the upright 2, on which lthe soles to be split are guided, passing under the rod 7, which rod also afcts as a guard for the operator, when the blanks are fed into the throat between the feed rolls. A lateral extension 8 from the vertical frame 2 is supported by a second vertical standard 9, also 'secured to the base 1. Lugs 10 and 16A project from the lateral extension 8 and standard 9 respectively, and threaded through the lug 10 is a heavy adjusting screw 11. This adjusting screw also threads through the block 12 to raise and lower same, and bottoms on the lug 10A. A heavy spring 11EL surrounds that portion of the adjusting screw 11 lying between the bottom of the lug 10 and the top of the lug 10A and assists in raising the block 12. Adjustment of screw 10 thus raises and lowers the bearing block 12, carrying the knife holder. rThis arrangement permits a vertical adjustment 'of the knife holder, while holding` it .firmly in place; when clamped.

The bearing block 12 ispreferably formed as a forked member with an extension 13 spaced from the main bearing 12 to receive a nut 14. Both the bearing sections 12 and 13 are bored to hold a shaft I15, sliding freely therethrough and having threaded engagement, as indicated at 16, Fig. 4, with the nut 14. This shaft 15 carries the knife holder 17 which consists of a flanged, laterally extending plate, shouldered at 18 against which theheel of the knife `20 abuts. The knife is held in position on the knife holder 17 by a clamp 21, bolted tothe plate 17 by means of screws 22 and 23. The plate 1.7 has a short extension 25 beyond the length required to receive and hold the knife 20, and a coiled spring 26 4is provided between this extension 25 and an adjusting nut 27 on a screw 28 mounted in the block 29 on the base 1. This arrangement allows for adjustment of the tension of the spring 26.

Bearing on 'top of the extension 25 is an adjusting screw 30, this screw being threaded through an arm 31 on a lever 32. This lever extends downwardly and has an enlargement 33 provided with a recess 34 adapted to encircle the shaft 35, of the lower' roll 5, so that as said roll moves vertically in the operation of the machine, to accommodate stock of different thicknesses, the arm 32 will be moved vertically therewith. This shaft 35 is journaled in pivoted bearings having a lug` 36 in position tobe acted upon lby a coiled spring 37 operating between said lug and an adjusting screw 33 fitting in the base 1. This screw 38 provides for the adjustment of the tension of said spring 37. This spring 37 normally holds the roll 5 upwardly to the extreme limit permitted by the vertically pivoted journal box. Feeding stock through the rolls depresses the roll 5 against the tension of said spring 37 and the depression of the lever 32 acts to oscillate the knife holder 17 on its shaft 15, depressing one end of said knife holder through engagement of the adjusting screw with the extension 25, and against the tension of the spring 26.

The axis of the knife holding shaft 15 is positioned in the same plane in which lies the lowermost surface of the upper fixed roll 4 and the knife 20 is clamped on the. holder 15 with one edge, i. e., that designated at 24, Figs. 1 and 4, directly in line with the axis of the shaft 15. Consequently rotation of the knife holder on said shaft 15 moves the opposite edge of thc knife 20 downwardly or upwardly, as the case may be, with relation to the edge 24 which is in the same fixed plane at all times,

directly in line with the lowermost surface of the top roll 4. Vertical movement of the lower roll 5 impart-s a similar vertical movement to the edge of the knife 20 adjacent the extension 25 and arm 31. Consequently as the rolls 4 and 5 are separated by the thickness of stock, the 'cutting edge of the knife 20 is always so inclined as to extend from the plane of the lowermostportion of the top roll 4 to the plane of the uppermost portion of the lower roll 5 irrespective of the extent to which said rolls are spread apart by the thickness of the stock to be split.

During the oscillation of the connections from thel feed roll .5 to the knife holder, through the length of the arm 31 and eX- tension 25, a slight lengthening or shortening of the connections occurs through the varying inclination of the knife holder and the bearing point of the screw 30. Al-

though slight, this variation is suflicient to affect the accuracy of the position of the splitting knife, and therefore 1 provide novel and automatic means to compensate for such variation due to the fact that the connection through the shaft and levery 32 is beyond the end of the knife in order to clear the stock. This means consists of the cam groove at the lower partof the lever 32 acting upon a fixed stud in the base 2 so as to oscillatethe lever 32 sufliciently on the shaft 35 to compensate for the variation above eX- plained, and due to position of connection on the knife holder.` I prefer to arrange this compensating adjustment so that it may itself be adjustable, as I iind that it is desirable to have splitting knives o-f different lengths and to substitute one knife for the other when a batch of stock with a certain length of wedge has been acted j upon. Therefore I have illustrated in the drawings provision to adjust the angle of inclination of the correcting cam groove to correspond with thevariations incident to knives of different lengths for still greater accuracy.

To 'obtain accurate work in wedge splitting or scarfing, where the angular position of the knifeI is `governed or controlled by the move-ment of one of the feed rolls, it is very important that the connecting means be such as to take care of long and short bevels or scarfs, as'it is very difficult to have the connection between roll and knife block at the point where knife stops cutting, on account of the stock passing along one side of this point. Therefore, the connection between the knife holder and movable roll is beyond that point, and that part of the connection fastened to the knife block must move faster than part of the connection united to lthe movable roll. `The farther the end ofthe cuttingedge of knife is from this connection, the faster this part of the connection must travel in proportion to that part connected with the movable roll. This applies equally to whether long or short krrives are used to produce long or short scarfs, or whether the rolls are changed toy take care of a. long or short scarf.

I take care vof this in my construction through lever 32, the connecting means between the movable roll 5 and knife holder 17. The lever 32 is pivotally mounted on shaft 35, carrying the roll 5, 'andmoves with it.

To transmit this movement to the knife holder 17 there must be a guiding means. 'Ihis is furnished through guide slot 43 and stud 46, which carries a roll orsliding 'block that lits in said slot. i

If this guiding slot in the lower end, of lever 32 were in a vertical line, all parts of lever 32 would move in unison with it. the same distance at the sametime.` and in the same direction.

As this equal movement of all parts of lever 32, if transmitted to knife block, would only do uniform work on stock of even thickness and same length o-f scarf, it would necessitate adjustment for different thick` ness of stock, or at least for every lot of stock where they are skived even'. It is a decided advantage to do this wedge stripping before the stock is evened, thereby getting the advantage of evening or skiving the soles after lengthening. The guide slot in lever 32 is made adjustable and so constructed that there is only one adjustment i'iecessary,` and that is for different length scarfs. The construction of this adjustable roll slot is such that when made its adjustlments are twofold. This will `be ybetterunderstood when the construction thereof is explained.

The lower end of lever 32, which is used the controlling or guiding means for the movement transmitted to it by the shaft 35, is bored at to receive a hub 44, and is faced or recessed at 41 t0 receive a plate 42 formed integral with the hub 44. This hub 44 has a slot 43 cut in it and into which a roller or sliding block49 rotatably mounted on ya stud 46, which stud is located in vertical alinement with and above the center of hub 44, when the lever `32 is in vertical position.. The slot 43 in thehub 44 makes an angle with a line drawn longitudinally through the length of the lever 32, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 3. The stud 46 is screwed into a portion of the frame 2. The plate 42 near its upper end has an arcuate slot 47" cut in it and through which passes a bolt 4'? thatscrews into the lever to hold the plate in adjusted position. Graduations 48 on the upper edge of the plate 42 co-operate with a central or neutral graduation on thelever 32 to visually indicate the relation of the `plate 42, and therefore the degree of angularity of the slot 43, with the lever 32. The adjustment for thickness of the scarf at the heel end is made through screw 30 at 3l in lever 32.

the angular position of the guide slot in lever 32 and stud 46 gives a more or less rotative nioveiuent to lever 32 when it moves up and. down with the feed roll 5, as the movement of feed roll 5 is transmitted to the knife block at 25 through screw 30 at 3l, the knife block 17 has its maximum movement at and becomes proportionately less to'- ward the neutral or stationary point where it Zero.

Ifrom this explanation it is readily understood the portion 25 of knife block would have t@ move considerably more to cut a 11g length scarf than it would on a 3 length scarf. This taken care of in the adjustment of the roll slot in connecting lever The `pivot stud 46 being placed eccentrically in the guide slot 43 in flanged hub 44, (being above the center of slot), it can readily be seen that when the angularityof the -slot is increased the `lever 32 is moved to the right causing a corresponding downward movement of lever 32 at 3l, thereby automatically making the adjustmentat 3l for the length cut to be made. Were the pivot stud 46 located centrally in 44 when in its stationary or neutral position, it would not make this adjustment, and it would have to be made through screw 30 In order that rolls 4 and 5 may be kept apart from Blf to t, according t0 thickness of stock being scarfed, use an adjusting screw 60. Screw 5() is tted in upper part of standard 2 in lateral 88, and point of same presses against the pivoted arm carrying shaft on which roll 5 is rotated.

lt will .be vappreciated that my machine is of a simple, economical and highly eflicient construction, containing a minimum number of operating parts insuring perfect. accuracy in operation. When the knife of appropriate size is fitted to the holder and clamped thereto, the camfcarrying plate 42 is adjusted to proper inclination. The entire knife holding block 12 may also be adjusted vertically so as to bring the cutting blade of said knife along the edge 24 directly in alinement with the lower surface of the feeding roll 4, and a further adjustment toward or from the feed roll is effected by rotation of the thumb nut 14, sliding the shaft- 15 inwardly or outwardly in its bearing through the engagement of said nut on the threads 16. A fine adjustment may also be effected through manipulation of the screw 30, which is then locked in position by the lock nut 50. Power being applied to the fast pulley and the rolls rotated, stock is fed along the worktable 6 with the end to bc split against the rear flange of said worktable, which table may also be adjusted longitudinally with respect to the feeding rolls, and laterally with respect thereto, by any suitable means. The rotation of the rolls automatically engages the stock, draws it inwardly and against the cutting knife.` to split the heel wedge 51 from the main stock 52. The inclination vof the knife 2O automatically follows the spacing of the movable roll 5 from the upper roll through the connections of the lever 32, adjusting screw 30 and extension 25 on the knife holder, as above explained, the lever 32 being slightly oscillated by the action of the cam groove 48. The heel wedge 51 drops downwardly and the sole blank 52 is withdrawn, whereupon the heel wedge may be cemented thereto in'lengthened position, as shown in Fig. 7. lt will be noted that my construction includes the knife holder itself substantially as a lever to oscillate the knife angularly upon the axis of its supporting shaft 15, while the connection therefor, i. e., the lever 32, utilizes the roll 5 as a support for the connecting mechanism to move the lever 32 and as a fulcrum on which said lever 32 is itself moved to compensate for inaccuracies. The .provision of the cam `groove' to correct such inaccuracies in the link connection or in the pair of levers, as well as the provision for adjustment thereto to correspond with different knives used, constitute important novel features in the present machine.

My invention is further described and defined in the form of claims as follows:

1. vA machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair of relatively vmovable feed rolls, a knife mounted for vertical angular movement relatively to said rolls, and means to cause angular" movement of the knife by and in predeterminedrelationship to the relative movement of said rolls comprising connections differing in movement from the angular movement of the knife, and means to compensate for error in the operation of said connections.

' 2. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair of feed rolls, a knife mounted for angular movement relatively to said rolls, and means to cause a relative movement of said rolls yand said knife, said means including a link connection between said rolls and said knife, and automatic means to compensate for varying length in the operation of said connections.

3. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair of feed rolls, a knife, a pivotal mounting for said knife, means to cause angular movement of the knife by and in predetermined relationship to the relative movement of said rolls including a lever connected to the pivotal mounting, and a second lever operatively connected with one of the feed rolls and adapted to automatically compensate for variation in the operative length of said levers. j

l4. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair of feeding rolls, means permitting a relative separation of said feed rolls, a cutting knife adapted to sever stock on an angle when passing between said feed rolls, a pivotal mounting for said knife, having a combined knife holding and lever member extending laterally from said pivot to a greater distance from the pivot than the length of the knife edge, and means automatically to oscillate said combined knife support and lever proportionately with the separation of said rolls.

A machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair of feeding rolls, one of said rolls being arranged to move toward and from the other, a cutting knife adapted to severv stock on an angle when passing between said rolls, a pivotal mounting for said knife having a combined knife holder and lever extending laterally from said pivot, means for causing angular movement of the knife about its pivotal mounting by an in predetermined relationship to the relative movement of said rolls comprising a lever operatively connected with the movable one of said rolls, and bearing upon name to this specication, in the presence of said coinbnel1 knife holder ailid lever and two subscribing wintesses. means to osei ate said second ever to coin- 1 pensate for variations in leverage in the LOUIS G' FREEMAN 5 connections of said second lever and said Vtnesses:

knife holder. E. J. 'WEBERj In testimony whereof, I have signed my J. P. KUYPER. 

